


Water Cooler Gossip

by PetuniaViolet



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Domestic Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier, Eddie has a soft spot for a younger coworker, Gossip, M/M, Married Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier, Richie and Eddie adopt Cecilia without even realizing it, Soft Richie Tozier, based on a comic, the author would like to apologize for the many line breakers, the writer knows nothing about risk analyzing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-05
Updated: 2020-06-05
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:08:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24560566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PetuniaViolet/pseuds/PetuniaViolet
Summary: There was still a lot to learn about Cecilia, but luckily Eddie still remembered the little gems of information he recalled about her. But the biggest gem he could have ever find was Cecilia herself.-One-shot based on a comic by 'dibujos-de-la-orilla'
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Comments: 8
Kudos: 142





	Water Cooler Gossip

**Author's Note:**

> Important!!
> 
> This story is based on a comic by a very talented artist named Río. 
> 
> Follow her on tumblr: @dibujos-de-la-orilla  
> Follow her on instagram: @dibujosdelrio  
> The comic I based this one-shot from is [here](https://dibujos-de-la-orilla.tumblr.com/post/619841861676367872/working-from-home-will-be-the-end-of-eddies-bad#notes)
> 
> Also, I'm not very confident about this but I felt inspired and I wanted to write something else to take a break from my story! And Río, if you're reading this, I hope I did Cecilia justice and sorry for creating random headcanons for her!!
> 
> Enjoy!

_Deep breaths, Eddie. Ignore them. Focus on your work._

“I mean, he has to scrutinize _everything_ that I do!”

“Tell me about it, yesterday I moved his lunch a little to fit mine on the fridge and he gave me an earful.”

“And the hand gestures? Jesus Christ, sometimes I just wanna shove them away so he can stop. It’s so annoying.”

“Hey man, I’m with you. It’s enough hearing a short, angry man shouting at you.”

“Maybe he’s not having enough sex at home.”

Eddie hears them chuckle.

_Keep your eyes on your screen. They’re all a bunch of assholes. You finish this work as fast as you can so you can go home to Richie._

But in all honestly, all Eddie wanted to do was march over there and yell in their faces that his marriage was going well and that, _yes_ —he and his husband have lots of sex! The reason he’s stressed is that he has to work with careless, half-arsed people that insist on taking thirty-minutes of cigarette breaks and are always late after the lunch break.

Eddie sometimes has to stay at the office hours after he’s supposed to be home to fix whatever those morons weren’t able to do properly because being on Facebook or being social was more important around here.

A woman snorts, “He probably had to point a gun at the guy’s head for him to say ‘I do’.”

“Excuse me, but can you stop? What you’re doing is very disrespectful and immature.”

And then there was Cecilia.

One year ago, Eddie realized that he needed help to handle the reports being flooded his way, and since no one wanted to work with him, he was authorized to hire someone. He met various people, and he never really clicked with anyone.

Then, this woman in her mid-twenties walks in, fresh out of college, and wanting to gain experience. She was available whenever he wanted, never complained about her schedule, and genuinely cared about the department’s motives.

Cecilia seemed capable enough, she was ambitious and liked analyzing risks as much as he did. And she also had asthma, which was something that it should not matter, but for Eddie it did.

Cecilia proved to be efficient during her first month, and ever since she started working for him, Eddie has managed to go home by five, as he should.

Something he also noticed on the young woman was that she kept mostly to herself. During her first months, Eddie noticed that Cecilia would always eat lunch alone, so Eddie began sitting next to her by the third month and the two would eat in comfortable silence. To this day, they have waited for each other to arrive to finally start eating, and even though the gesture is small—it was a mutual understanding that ended lonely meal times.

Cecilia was also very brief whenever someone asked about her life. The gossipers didn’t know if she had a partner, or if she was married, if she had kids—Eddie heard two women being frustrated about Cecilia not wanting to fully answer their seemingly harmless questions, to his disgust. The kid wasn’t forced to answer them.

Eddie never once saw her go for a cigarette break, and that was good since she had asthma. But he wasn’t worried, oh no. It wasn’t like Eddie’s stomach sank when he found Cecilia having a small asthma attack in the middle of the hall whilst he was going to get more copies. She had her inhaler and kept working normally, insisting that she was fine after Eddie said she could have gone home afterwards.

He admired her resilience, but Eddie knew she was human.

Six months in, there was a time Eddie was almost disappointed when he heard her snort inside her cubicle, and when he investigated the cause, instead of finding her scrolling down on her phone, she was giggling because someone had made a mistake so disastrously impressive on a report she was reviewing that it was laughable.

He had to admit that even though he was peeved at a mistake that could’ve ruined an important business partner’s day, it was funny.

“What are you talking about? We’re not doing anything wrong,” said Olivia Jenkins, whose nasal voice Eddie would recognize from a distance. She’s also friends with his ex-wife, so Eddie naturally tried to avoid her as much as possible.

“Yes, you are. I’m trying to do my job and all I can hear is a bunch of middle-aged adults talking shit about my superior behind his back!” Cecilia complained heatedly.

Usually, she was a very polite person. Eddie has never heard her swear or raise her voice, even when he saw her leaving the building and her umbrella got broken by the storm last week, all Cecilia did was groan and ran back inside to get a new umbrella. So, he stopped typing and leaned back into his chair to listen even more.

“Look, kid, I know he’s your boss but you don’t have to pretend you like Kaspbrak, we all know he’s annoying to work with and we won’t tell him if you ever need to vent,” Jason, the beer-belly and balding man that has been here longer than Eddie says, speaking softly as if he thought Cecilia would agree.

He was wrong.

“Annoying to work here?” Cecilia paused, and Eddie could feel her incredulous expression before she continued, “Mr. Kaspbrak has given me a _job_ —period. Thanks to him, I managed to get my own place and take care of my life as a functioning adult in this society. Thanks to Mr. Kasprak, I have learned a lot about this job and he never once failed to impress me with his skills. I don’t care if he’s a little harsh or demanding, that’s because he cares about this job! So grow up, stop pretending you’re drinking water, and go back to work, please!”

He heard Cecilia walk off, and the muttering of those who were outraged by being scolded began.

“What the hell?”

“Who does she think she is?”

“Go back to work? She’s not my boss, geez.”

“What a meddling little—”

Nope, Eddie was not having it.

They could talk all the shit they wanted about him, but to diminish Cecilia just because she was right and they inwardly felt guilty about it was not going to happen. Eddie stood from his chair and left his cubicle, making the group of the procrastinating group look at him with surprised expressions when they noticed the man marching their way with tense shoulders.

“What’s going on here? I heard a commotion,” he said, using a rigid tone. Eddie didn’t want them to know he could hear them before, but he could’ve imagined their faces if they ever found out about it.

“Uh—just some small chatting, Mr. Kaspbrak. We were just taking a small break!” a lanky, rat-faced man quickly says. Eddie tries to remember his name, he distantly thinks about ‘Jared’.

“I don’t want excuses,” Eddie eyed the beer-belly, God what’s his name… Gavin? “Have you finished your report on Jefferson?” he questioned.

“I—”

“No, you haven’t. Cecilia would’ve sent it to me if you had,” Eddie sharply interrupted, glaring towards Olivia now, “And Mrs. Jenkins, I hope you’re enjoying your break after finishing the report on the main street house? You know, the one that I was supposed to get _two days ago_?”

“It’s almost finished,” she replied, sipping from her cup to avoid looking at him.

Eddie almost rolled his eyes, but he did raise his eyebrows to feign shock, “Oh, well then! That solves _everything_ —something you were supposed to have done two days ago is still not complete, but I can relax because you’re _almost_ finished with it and you’re not wasting time instead! That is such a big relief!” the sarcasm was obvious within his tone.

They all flinched and began to return to their respective cubicle, afraid to be the next victim under his unforgiving gaze. Eddie let them go before smiling tightly and turning around, back inside his cubicle with a satisfied grunt.

When he sat down, he noticed he received a new email from Cecilia, and to his delight, she had finished the last report for the day thirty minutes earlier. He sent her a thank you email and told her she could go home for the day.

Cecilia passed by his cubicle ten minutes later to wish him a good day before leaving and Eddie felt his chest warm afterwards. She was the only coworker to properly give him a ‘see you tomorrow’.

* * *

“—and then, Cecilia basically told them all to shut the fuck up and go back to work!” Eddie enthusiastically stated before laughing along with Richie.

“No fucking way! How old is she again?!” Richie exclaimed with an awed look.

“I think she’s twenty-six,” now that Eddie thought about it, he felt guilty for not knowing if Cecilia’s birthday had already passed, “I’m telling you, hiring that kid was a good call,” Eddie sighed softly, resting his head on the comfortable couch.

“Yeah, I noticed. You’ve been less stressed,” his husband placed a hand on his hair and gently ruffled it, leading Eddie to close his eyes and lean into it gratefully.

It was now dinner time at the Kaspbrak residence. Richie was feeling lazy so they ordered pizza (vegetarian for Eddie and pepperoni for Richie), grabbed a couple of beers, and just ate on the couch while watching a forgetful movie. Eddie began talking about his day and he couldn’t help to once again bring Cecilia into the conversation—it was just to easy to praise her.

Richie loved stories that had Cecilia included, he knew they were going to have a good ending thanks to her, “Also, I can’t believe she’s that young—what the hell is she doing, working for you? She should be traveling or whatever the fuck Millenials do nowadays,” Richie joked before taking a bite from his slice.

Eddie poked him on his ribs, feigning being insulted by his statement, “Cecilia obviously cares about her job!” he exclaimed defensively.

Richie tossed the uneaten slice to the pizza box on the coffee table and suddenly beamed at Eddie, “Oh my God, let’s invite her over for dinner!” he said before tackling Eddie, pinning him down and putting his weight on him, “I wanna meet her!”

“Oof—you already did, remember that video-call? When you brought me tea–GET OFF ME!” Eddie tried pushing his husband but Richie didn’t budge.

“That doesn’t count!” Richie retorted, “It was very brief! Just invite her for dinner, or else I’ll never get off you,” the taller man flattened his arms and legs on top of Eddie and sank, hiding his face on Eddie’s neck as he laughed, “Do ittttt!” he blew a raspberry there and heard his husband’s laugh with a lovestruck smile.

Out of breath, Eddie began hitting his back as a retaliation for the raspberry, “Okay, asshole!! I’ll invite her, now get the fuck off me—this isn’t how I wanted you to top me!”

He heard Richie laugh before he sat up, and as Richie continued eating his pizza Eddie couldn’t help to feel nervous about his promise. When should he do it? How? And what would he tell her?

He had to think about this throughout, he couldn’t risk being seen as an unprofessional superior by Cecilia—and God, why did he care so much about her opinion?

* * *

Eddie, who insists on having self-control, wanted to ask Cecilia to come for dinner as soon as he noticed her arriving to work.

To his defense, he waited until lunch. Usually, no one would sit with them at the company’s cafeteria so it was easy to talk without anyone listening.

“So Cecilia, you remember meeting my husband?” he began, casually placing his fork down and swallowing when she took her eyes from her phone’s screen to give him a curious look.

“Yes, I recall Richie,” she smiled tentatively, admittedly still a little timid for addressing her superior’s husband so informally.

“Yes, him, um—he wanted to extend an invitation to you, for dinner tonight. He says he wants to meet you in person,” looking at her, Eddie twisted the corner of his lips upward to give her a casual smile while he tried not to sound too awkward.

Cecilia placed her phone down, giving him her full consideration, “Oh! Uh, I mean, yes—sure! But I’m a little surprised, is there any special reason?” she questioned, slightly warily. And to be fair, Eddie would’ve asked the same.

“No, not at all!” he assured promptly, “He’s just like that, I’ll email you our address later and please let me know if you have any food allergies, okay?” and without knowing how to continue this conversation, Eddie grabbed his empty Tupperware and rose from his chair, “Okay? Bye!”

He was out of there. And he felt stupid, feeling so nervous. But if Eddie was being honest with himself, Cecilia was the only coworker he liked. She was his favorite, and he had taken her under his wing.

Cecilia emailed him after lunchbreak, she only had allergies to shrimp. Eddie emphasized it to Richie when he texted him about Cecilia coming home with him for dinner. And then he reminded his husband an hour later again, just to be sure. He knew Richie could be responsible, it was only Eddie’s nerves kidnapping his hands and taking over his brain while texting.

The rest of the day went on chaotically. There was a problem with the copy machine that was fixed only an hour later, the internet went down for twenty minutes and the light bulb above Eddie’s cubicle began flickering—but Eddie found himself eerily calm. His coworkers eyed him, expecting him to explode as usual, but he was… fine. Besides, Cecilia promised she had called for someone to replace the bulb by tomorrow.

He emailed Cecilia to ask her if she had a car. That day, Eddie finally learned something about her. Cecilia couldn’t afford a car, and she didn’t have a driver’s license. So she took the bus, or when she was late, a cab. Eddie didn’t comment on that, he simply offered her a ride to his home and she accepted it. That way she wouldn’t have to find out what bus had a route near his place.

Eddie mentally noted that he would need to drive her back to her place after dinner because there’s no way in hell he would let a young woman go back home so late in the evening.

When it was almost five, Cecilia sent him the last report for the day. She additionally asked if it was okay for her to leave with him, and Eddie realized that she wanted to respect his privacy and keep his friendly dinner away from the coworkers that can’t mind their own business.

Eddie really liked her.

He emailed her that she should meet him outside by Starbucks, and he felt giddy about it because it seemed as if he was in a movie.

* * *

When Eddie picked her up, he noticed without reacting that Cecilia has changed from her professional work clothes to a more casual outfit when she sat down by the passenger’s seat next to his.

They exchanged a smile as a form of greeting and Eddie waited until she had her seatbelt on before driving towards home.

_Start a conversation, idiot._

“Uh, so, strange weather we’re having, uh?”  
“So what kind of car is this?”

They both became silent.

Before chuckling at the same time.

“Yes, I hate this weather! It’s sunny, but then it rains minutes later! And I can’t stand the wind,” Cecilia giggled, answering his ice-breaker question.

“Agreed. And this is an Audi,” he replied as well, quite proudly, “I got it last year. It’s mine mostly, but my husband sometimes drives it because he thinks he’s saving the planet.”

Cecilia melted on her seat, “That’s so sweet…” she sighed, “Your husband seems so nice. I can’t believe he told me to call him Richie.”

Smiling affectionately, Eddie nodded, “He’s like that to people he likes. He’s just… a casual person, easy-going but to some people, he can be overwhelming.”

“I’m the oldest of four, bring it on.”

That, right there, was the first time Cecilia was comfortable enough to joke around him. And Eddie was soaring at this sudden demeanor change. He openly laughed, and Cecilia was bashful about it. She took the risk and she was glad Eddie wasn’t offended by her quip.

Eddie also mentally noted another thing about her and thought about the list: she had asthma, she was living alone, she was allergic to shrimp, she didn’t have a driver’s license, and she had four younger siblings. He was collecting these like they were small gems, and Eddie found himself craving for more details about Cecilia. But he held back, he also wanted to respect her privacy she did.

“Mr. Kaspbrak—”

“Please, call me Eddie. Or else this dinner will be awkward and my husband will make a joke out of it,” he quickly inputted.

Cecilia’s shoulders quivered from her soundless laugher before she resumed, “ _Eddie_ , I just wanted to thank you for inviting me for dinner.”

“It wasn’t me, it was Richie—” Eddie bit his tongue, internally screeching at his poor social skills when he said that, “I m-mean, I liked the idea right away! Don’t get me wrong!”

She didn’t, because Cecilia is great, “I understood, you did say during lunch that Richie had invited me.”

Eddie hummed, nodding. And he almost wanted to thank her for defending him yesterday. Eddie just didn’t want to cause drama around the department, that place wasn’t a high school, and even though some of his coworkers thought they were the mean girls of the whole floor and Eddie was growing tired of the consistent gossiping, he just didn’t want to waste his time over it as well.

For the rest of the ride, the two would fall into a comfortable silence. They seemed to do that a lot. Cecilia didn’t pressure him to keep a conversation alive, Eddie appreciated that, especially since they had a twenty-year-old gap. Sure, they could talk and they had their love of analyzing risks as a common ground of discussion, but what else was there? Cecilia didn’t know he once thought he had asthma, and he sure wasn’t going to bring that up randomly.

_So hey! You have asthma, I thought I had it too until I found out that my mother put that in my head! Alongside the placebos and the manipulation—how about you? How was your childhood?_

He wouldn’t blame Cecilia for opening the car’s door and rolling out on the road to escape.

Eddie ended up turning the radio into a station that was popular with the Millenials—and yes, he was never going to admit that he did some research about it before picking her up. From the corner of his eyes, he saw Cecilia tapping her fingers on her thighs as she hummed with ‘Say it So’. The only reason Eddie recognized it was because Richie loved singing it while doing the laundry.

Three songs later, Eddie parks in front of his garage. They get out of the car and Cecilia closes her door so gently that she has to close it again from shutting it wrong. Eddie almost laughs because she’s as anxious as he is, and that brings him some comfort. They get to the front door and he prays that Richie straightened things up a bit or that dinner is at least almost ready and going well.

Cecilia sees Eddie taking his shoes off by the foyer and she does the same as she walks behind him into the house—she’s attentive, Eddie noticed. Whenever he used his hand-sanitizer she would cup her hands together in front of him for him to pour some on them as well, when he sighed deeply Cecilia would bring him tea (he brings from his house because fuck the tap water from that building) and whenever he massaged his temples Cecilia showed up with a pain-killer and a bottle of water.

Eddie really liked her.

* * *

“So, let me get this straight. You heard these bunch of people, who are way older than you, talk shit about my husband and you just went off on them?”

Dinner was ‘Spaghetti al Dente with meatballs’ and Eddie was going to murder his husband after tonight. Cecilia didn’t get the inside joke, and Eddie was sure as fucking glad she didn’t. He was mentally praying Richie wouldn’t dare to embarrass him in front of her as he did during the meeting video-call.

Also, Richie had brought up the incident from yesterday and Eddie knew Cecilia would realize that Eddie heard everything and told him. He was avoiding looking at them, pretending to struggle with his noodles.

“W-Well, I was just… so frustrated! I’ve been there for a year and all I hear from them are complaints about Mr. Ka— _Eddie_ ,” she stated with her voice laced with bashfulness, “And then Greg had the guts to try and persuade me to join their little hateful cult,” she scoffed, reaching for her glass of water to take a sip.

Richie grinned, delighted at her words as he shared a look with his husband.

_Holy shit, I love her!_ his face screamed.

_I know, isn’t she great?_ Eddie nodded at him.

“Would you like some wine?” Richie asked out of courtesy. He was a sweetheart and bought a bottle for dinner, “Wait, are you old enough to drink?” a last-second tease was Richie’s specialty, and he prided himself whenever the joke landed right.

As in right now, when Cecilia snorted.

“Yes, I am. But honestly whenever I want to go inside a club or order a drink by the bar they ask for my I.D,” Cecilia said before gulping all of the water to give space for the wine inside the cup.

_Cecilia goes clubbing and drinks alcohol_ , Eddie thinks as he collects the information. Meanwhile, Richie fills her glass with wine until the middle and refills his as well, he gestures the bottle towards Eddie questioningly and his husband shakes his head, deciding to stick with the water instead. Richie puts the bottle down and turns towards his guest with a grin.

“So, you’ve been working for my husband for a year now. How is it like? Is he a big meanie like everyone says he is?”

Eddie looked at Cecilia and prepared himself to tell her that she didn’t need to answer that if it made her uncomfortable, but Cecilia opened her mouth and answering the question with an easy smile.

“Working for Mr. Kaspbrak is challenging,” she began, “At the beginning, I thought he didn’t like his job because of the way the dealt with the department problems. But then I started to notice that he was impatient and harsh because he cared, a lot. Some people on our floor don’t see it because they don't like having someone to do their jobs. If they could, almost all of them would take things slow and half-arse the whole thing, jeopardizing our clients and company.”

_Mother of God_ , Eddie thought.

“Holy shit, cheers kid, I’ll drink to that,” Richie huffed in complete awe before sipping his wine, Cecilia giggled and followed his lead, gulping her glass as well.

She seemed to have loosened up a little bit from when she entered his car.

“And another thing, Eddie,” Cecilia was looking at him, suddenly shy, “You probably hear them talk badly about you, why don’t you tell them to stop? Why do you let them?”

Eddie sighed, “I’m used to people not liking me.”

Both Richie and Cecilia gave him a sad look, and Eddie wanted to disappear.

“I like you,” the young woman stated, “You’re a good boss, you have taught me a lot and you’re passionate about your job. You’re also a good husband and you have helped me a lot during this year, so… yeah. I like you, Eddie,” Cecilia softly told him, smiling timidly.

Richie was giddy as he looked between Eddie and Cecilia’s exchange of smiles. Finally, there was someone outside of the Losers that recognized Eddie as the good person he truly was behind his gremlin personality.

“That’s it, we’re keeping her,” Richie slammed a fist on the table gently and beamed at his husband.

Cecilia gave him a surprised expression whilst Eddie spluttered at his husband’s antics.

“Richie!! Shut up, you can’t just say that!” he chided him over the table, sending the woman an apologetic smile, “Excuse him, I think he had too much to drink.”

Richie laughed, “I had half a glass!! I am perfectly sober—but I will apologize! That was supposed to make you laugh, sorry it doesn’t work sometimes. I might be a comedian but I never said I was a good one,” he winked at her, drawing a small giggle out of Cecilia.

“It’s fine, I got the joke. I was just taken back for a second,” she admitted, smiling and making Eddie relieved, “I watched one of your recent specials on Netflix, Richie, and I laughed a lot!”

Richie’s eyes lit up, “You did? I’m glad then, that’s what I wanted.”

And so the two began mindlessly chatting about Richie’s career, and Eddie gladly watched them while he ate. Richie loved interacting with fans, even though he couldn’t always shake hands or sign autographs he was very active on Twitter and would occasionally like and retweet posts from fans about him.

_Cecilia likes Richie’s stand-ups_ , Eddie inwardly noted. There is so much that he was finding out about her, and Eddie was pleased about it. But he couldn’t help to linger on what Richie said. _‘We’re keeping her’_. What did he mean by that?

After dinner, the table was clean and Cecilia helped Eddie place the dirty dishes inside the dishwasher while Richie placed three slices of the blueberry pie he bought for tonight on dessert plates. He appreciated her help, as always. Then, when all was done the three sat down by the kitchen’s island and began eating the delicious pie.

“Are you going to the retreat this year, Eddie?” Cecilia suddenly asked, half-done with her slice.

Richie perked up at that, looking at Eddie questioningly.

“No, I am not,” Eddie told her dryly, “Those things are annoying,” the wry tone wasn’t meant for her, he hoped Cecilia knew that.

Cecilia chuckled, “I was thinking of going, but if you’re not then I won’t as well.”

Eddie stopped his fork in midair and looked at her with widened eyes, “You don’t have to do that! You’re your own person, if you want to go you should!” he explained, trying not to panic.

Cecilia shrugged, “It wouldn’t be as fun without you.”

_We’re keeping her_ , Eddie screamed inwardly. But then he remembered he was a middle-aged man and that he needed to remain calm. He managed to smile her way and look at Richie, who was giving Cecilia an affectionate smile—he liked her too, a lot. And Eddie couldn’t blame him, Cecilia was great.

* * *

After that dinner, nothing changed that much.

Only the fact that Cecilia was now invited for dinner once a week and that she and Eddie had broken a barrier and were now friends. They remained professional during work hours though, but Eddie and her would now lunch in a nearby restaurant and sometimes Richie would join them if he had a free afternoon. Richie also gave her free tickets and promised Cecilia that she would never have to buy a ticket as long as he was alive—and she was s thankful that she baked him chocolate chips cookies.

It was a sweet gesture of her, literally.

It was funny that no one around the office noticed the shift in their dynamic. Eddie now had his own inside jokes with Cecilia and she taught him what ‘memes’ were. Richie had a blast when Eddie sent him one during lunch and Eddie was close to blocking his husband’s number from the wave of memes Richie sent back.

There was still a lot to learn about Cecilia, but luckily Eddie still remembered the little gems of information he recalled about her. But the biggest gem he could have ever find was Cecilia herself.


End file.
